[German version] (ποταμοφύλαξ/
potamophýlax, 'river guard'). The
potamophýlakes (Ptolemaic officials) used guard boats (attested from the 2nd cent. BC on) to guard the Nile, its branches (in the Delta) and the canals of Alexandria up to Syene (Aswan). They occasionally also carried urgent letters and were put to service collecting tolls and taxes. The
potamophýlakes were conscripted into service; the office of
potamophýlax was a liturgy. Renger, Johannes (Berlin) Bibliography E. Kießling, s. v. P., RE 22, 1029 f.

[German version] (Greek Θίνις/
Thínis, Θίς/
Thís; Coptic
tin). Capital of the eighth nome of Upper Egypt, precise location unknown. T. was an ancient royal metropolis of the First and Second Dynasties (3000-2635 BC). According to Manetho [1], who calls the rulers (e.g. Menes [1]) of the First Dynasty Θεινίτης, -αι/
Theinítēs, -ai, 'Thinites', this period is also known as the Thinite period. The necropol(e)is of T. was/were located on the other bank of the Nile at Lepidotonpolis. The chief god of T. was Onuris. Renger, Johannes (Berlin) Bibliography E. Brovarski, s. v. Thinis, LÄ …

[German version] The Semitic goddess I. is etymologically related to Astarte (
Aṯtarat). Grammatically speaking, the name is masculine (cf. Western Semitic
Aṯtar). In southern Mesopotamia she was identified with Innana, the Sumerian city-goddess of Uruk, and there is evidence of her being worshipped in that city into Achaemenid times. In northern Babylonia and Assyria figures of I. were venerated in numerous cities (I. of the cities Akkad, Arbela [1], Nineveh) and to an extent identified with other goddesses. Th…

Renger, Johannes (Berlin) [German version] A. Name and definition (CT) Ancient Near Eastern Philology and History (ANEPH) is part of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, which includes the archaeology of the ancient Near East as well as philology and history. The term ‘ancient Near Eastern’, in the context of Western European and American scholarship, refers to the geographical area of the Near East and its pre-Christian or pre-Islamic civilizations in the territory of present-day Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel,…

[German version] City goddess of Uruk, etymologized as the ‘Queen of Heaven’. She is represented by symbols from the 2nd half of the 4th millennium (looped reed bundles, in the 1st millennium also a star), and by inscriptions from
c. 3200 BC. She is the goddess of the planet Venus, unmarried, and representing the power of sexuality; she also has martial features. Mesopotamian mythology equates her with Ištar; as such she appears in the Ninevite recension of the Gilgamesh Epic as well as in the myth of ‘Ishtar's descent into the Underworld. Hieros Gamos; Tammuz; Venus; Ishtar Renger, J…

[German version] Akkadian term (of unclear etymology) [2. 33 f.] for the predominant ethnicity of southern Mesopotamia (Babylonia) towards the end of the 4th and in the 3rd millennium BC, defined by their Sumerian writing culture (Sumerian). By the early 3rd millennium, Semitic-speaking ethnicities (called Akkadians in scholarly literature; Akkadian) also played a role in Mesopotamia. In addition, there were population groups in southern Mesopotamia that can be defined through the substrate langua…

[German version] (Akkadian 'sea'). Primaeval/primordial female divine monster, known from the Babylonian creation myth
Enūma Eliš . She is killed by her son Marduk in a theomachy (matricide) and split lengthwise into two halves: from the lower half he creates the earth, from the upper half the firmament of the heavens. In Berosus [1. 15] T. appears in a corrupt form as
thalath (Gr.
thálassa, 'sea'). T. is reflected in the Biblical creation myth (Gn 1:2) as
tehōm (LXX:
ábyssos, literally 'bottomless', 'primaeval depth'). Renger, Johannes (Berlin) Bibliography
1 S. M. Burstein, The …

[German version] (Sumerian ‘Lord Wind’). City-god of Nippur and highest god of the Sumerian-Akkadian Pantheon in the 3rd and the 1st half of the 2nd millennium BC. His place was taken in the 1st millennium by Marduk, the god of Babylon. His spouse was Ninlil ( Mylissa). Marduk; Mesopotamia; Nippur Renger, Johannes (Berlin) Bibliography T. Jacobsen, Treasures of Darkness, 1976.

[German version] Κώμη (
kṓmē) in Media (Ptol. 6,2,18), not far from a place called Ῥάψα (
Rhápsa), on the road from Ecbatana to Persepolis [1]. A. appears to have been on the same stretch of the road, probably the same place as Gulpaigan or Kaidu, and only had significance as a resting place. Renger, Johannes (Berlin) Bibliography
1 Miller, 783 with sketch no. 253.

[German version] Oikos economy (OE) was first described as an idealised concept of a form of economy in antiquity by Rodbertus, later by M. Weber.
Oikos describes an independent household (of a ruler), which produces everything used and consumed in it, apart from a few exceptions (metals, luxury products, in Mesopotamia also wood). In the Mesopotamian OE of the 4th and 3rd millennia, which had developed under the conditions of a comprehensive and mostly centrally-organized regime of artificial irrigation of the cultivab…

[German version] In the table of peoples in the OT (Gn 10:6),
Pūt is considered one of the four sons of Ham. The ethnic
Pūt is characterized as pertaining to Egypt's sphere of influence in the 10th cent. BC.
Pūt is likewise mentioned in Jer 46:9, Ez 27:10; 30:5; 38:5 and Nah 3:9. In contrast to earlier suggestions identification with P. is no longer advocated; identification with Libya/Libyans is more likely. The
Putāayā (Old Persian; Elamite
Putiyap; Akkadian
Puṭa) of the Darius [1] I inscriptions at Naqš-e Rostam also denotes Libyans, not - as occasionally assumed - P. [1. 197]. Renger, Jo…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Ḫattusa | Aegean Koine (
Qadeš,
Kadeš). Town in central Syria, south of Ḥimṣ, modern Tall Nabī Mand, situated in a strategically important location at the junction between the Egyptian sphere of influence on the one hand and Mittanian and Hittite on the other. In the 15th cent., Thutmosis III attempted to conquer the town [2. 94-98]. In 1275 BC, it was the site of the famous battle between the Hittite ruler Muwattalli II (1290-1272 BC) and Ramesses I…

[German version] According to Ael. NA 16,10, an Indian town in the land of the Prasii, where the Greek Megasthenes was ambassador to the king. Renger, Johannes (Berlin) Bibliography O. Wecker, s.v. L. (2), RE 12, 892.